Worlds Adrift
Worlds Adrift is an upcoming MMO from Bossa Studios UK and Improbable. The idea of the game was to enable physics in a persistant shared multiplayer environment and when the developers were told it wasn't possible, they were even more determined to create it. Worlds Adrift is an air ship building open world PVP MMORPG that makes use of a physics engine. In most MMO's players can fall into other players and there is little to no consequences. Players don't generally have to deal with physics including balance or collision. In Worlds Adrift, if your ship is completely off balance, then steering becomes an issue. If your unbalanced ship runs into an island, well guess you better start doing some repairs because chances are you broke something. If you crash bad enough, you could end up with an upside-down ship. Collisions (while fun if you are the one doing the ramming into someone else vessel) can be costly. The initial goal was to have all players on the same server but trying to create a world dedicated to physics requires low latency which realistically would not be possible on a single server. There are no quest hubs or no NPC's to get tasks from. There are no levels and no static environments. Your world does not revolve around you but it can be permanently affected by things that you do. The world lives and breathes, so there will be creatures that live, eat and die and wreckage that rusts and falls apart. The actions of other players can directly affect the world around you. Gameplay Once you have built your ship (or at least something that viscariously floats), grab your crew and set out to to discover the world, scouring for lost technology and resources. You will need to fuel your ship, keep it repaired and find ways to improve it. All the while you keep your eye out for predators, storms and 'pirates', all of which can be a threat. Your ship can be stolen, sabotaged and/or completely destroyed. Ships are basically owner-less by game rules and according to the developers, the only way the game ties you to your ship is if you have placed a crew respawner on it but even that can be destroyed by other players. Want some payback? Use your grappling hook, catch an un-invited ride onto an enemy ship, loot their chests, and get a bit of destruction in while you are at it. . Whatever players can do to your ship, you can do as well to theirs. The controls of the ship are also physics driven. According to the developers "The ship floats in mid-air due to an anti-gravity core that you can install on the ship, which provides an upwards force, and it’s controlled around by applying forces on the engine propellers (sort of, more on that in a bit), and torque on the ship centre of mass itself. The core also provides an automatic stabilization system that behaves similarly to the buoyancy force acting on a seafaring vessel, attempting to keep the ship upright. This buoyancy force is balanced so it’s powerful enough that the ship will be mostly steady normally, but will still rock and tilt if hit by external forces." Coming up with this system was not easy and presented many challenges along the way, especially since ships will be at best slightly asymmetrical. For a game that take physics into consideration for pretty much everything, the developers were faced with several challenges (like how to attach items and have them break properly) more of which can be read about on the game's official web site. While there isn't alot of information about it yet, we know that players will be able to gather resources from the floating islands and craft items for their ships. The better resources may take a while to find as specific islands have specific resources. You will not be able to paint or camouflage your ship but learning to effectively hide your craft behind islands, in tree clearings or even in caves is a skill that could prove valuable. Players will be able to play solo if they so chose but a crew is highly recommended and will make the game generally easier. More information should be available soon. External links Ships and Physics Swing - Soar - Explore